Jesus
and Violence: Turning the Other Cheek
MVNT 313-329; Schrage: 107-115; Matt 5:38-48
What is the Sermon on the Mount?
- "basic training on the life of discipleship" (321;
cf. Mt 5:1-2)
- "Jesus programmatic disclosure of the kingdom of God
and of the life to which the community of disciples is called"
(321)
- "a vision of radical countercultural community of discipleship
characterized by a 'higher righteousness'" (322)
Interpretive proposals Hays rejects
(320-324):
- future ethics for a millennial age (dispensationalism)
- short-term ethics for an brief interim before the
end (Schweitzer)
- elitist ethics for an upper tier of Christians (monasticism)
- impossible ethics designed to show the need for grace
(Lutheran)
- contextual ethics intended only for a narrow social
context
Matthew's Six Antitheses
(5:21-48):
|
You have heard it said |
. . . . . . . . . . |
[OT Scripture] |
but I say to you |
. . . . . . . . . . . |
Relation to Torah? |
|
5:21-26 |
no murder |
Ex 20:13; Dt 5:17 |
|
no anger |
|
|
5:27-30 |
no adultery |
Ex 20:14; Dt 5:18 |
|
no lust |
|
|
5:31-32 |
tolerate divorce |
Dt 24:1-3 |
|
no divorce |
|
|
5:33-37 |
keep your vows |
Lv 19:12; Nu 30:2; Dt 23:21,23 (cf. Mt 23:16-22) |
|
avoid vows |
|
|
5:38-42 |
limit retaliation |
Ex 21:24; Lv 24:19-20; Dt 19:21 |
|
don't resist |
|
|
5:43-48 |
love neighbours |
Lv 19:18; Ps 139:21-22? |
|
love enemies |
|
- do the antitheses abrograte/replace, intensify/radicalize
or interpret/illuminate the requirements of Torah?
- does enemy-love make us sons (and daughters)
of our Father (5:45; cf. 5:9)? Compare various English translations.
- how do various intepreters understand turning the other
cheek (5:39)?
Turning the Other Cheek: A Survey
of Interpreters
|
Richard Hays |
|
|
Ulrich Luz |
|
|
W. D. Davies / Dale Allison |
|
|
Robert Gundry |
|
|
D. A. Carson |
|
|
R. T. France |
|
|
Marcus Borg / Walter Wink |
|
|
Dallas Willard |
|
|
Dietrich Bonhoeffer |
|